Time Management Tip - How to Stop Procrastinating
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Or, if you prefer, you can subscribe to my blog posts by e-mail. Thanks for visiting!
We all put things off. Generally, we put off tasks that are boring, difficult, unpleasant, etc. When faced with something we don’t want to do, we can find a dozen taks of no consequence to fill our time. When you’re tempted to procrastinate, follow these steps:
- Set a deadline —a task without a deadline can be put off indefinitely. Set a date and stick to it.
- Set up a reward system —make it commensurate with the task. An afternoon cleaning out the garage is worth dinner out, while a 14 month software roll-out might warrant a tropical vacation.
- Arrange for a follow-up —assign someone to be a “nag-buddy”. Give them permission to check in periodically to make sure you’re staying on track.
- Do it first —tackle difficult jobs early in the day, when you have the most energy.
- Break the task into small pieces —if the whole seems too big to tackle, break it into manageable sub-tasks.
- Do it now —don’t put if off any longer. Sometimes you just have to jump in and get it done.
email2friend
Related Posts:
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
Great tips, but I needed a system to put those things into action. I worked with a printable system for decades before finding an electronic Getting Things Done application that allows me to view my entire GTD at work on my Win machine, at home on my Macs and even on my cell phone. And another app lets me call in tasks to my GTD without any writing or typing, great for those thoughts that hit me while driving. I’ve written about my experiences with GTD in a blog post at http://johnkendrick.wordpress.com/2008/03/27/more-getting-things-done/ John
Besides the reward system, a punish system would be suitable too. For example give money to your accountability partner, or something.
Thanks for the tips! I hate to put off work, but there seems so much to do, so little time..